Not because of Korse, but because of Party. He made me feel like he liked me just so he could get into my pants. He couldn’t have just dropped a note or something, saying he wanted me for sex. Nope, he had to get me to think he liked me a lot to get some. I closed my eyes, wishing I could just be dead now.

Korse’s car was nice inside, with leather seats and plush cushions. The back seat was leather too, where I was sitting now. I guess the Dracs and Korse didn’t think of me as a threat, because they only bound my hands and ankles and sat me in the back, Drac on each side. From what I heard from other Killjoy’s experiences, when they were in Korse’s car, they were normally gagged, blind-folded, covered in rope and duck tape, and thrown in the trunk. I considered myself lucky for being in the actual car, but this just made it harder for me to bear life. It could already be over.

I looked out the windshield, staring at the horizon. Shadows were long on the ground, and I remembered what Party had said earlier about the Drac convention on Friday. I wondered if this what where Korse was taking me, and smiled to myself knowing if I was going to be killed, it would be there for people to see as proof I was dead.

The Drac to my left smacked me in the back of my head, pushing my forward and making me hit my nose slightly. “What the hell are you smiling at?!” he yelled, and was going to hit me again before Korse stopped him.

“Don’t hurt her. We need her for something very special, undamaged,” Korse said, raising one hand, still facing forward. I silently thanked Korse, knowing I wasn’t going to be in pain before my death.

It was nightfall when we arrived at Battery City and drove up to the BLI building. It looked so much bigger when you were standing underneath it, looking up, but one of the Dracs pushed me forward as I looked up at the smiling logo. “Keep fucking moving,” he said in a growl, clearly trying not to make Korse angry that he was trying to harm me. I put my head down and continued to follow.

We walked into the building and immediately stepped into an elevator. I got claustrophobic, standing so close to Korse I could smell him. He smelled of soap and light cologne. I wondered why he needed to smell good, but I guessed it was because of the suit thing he had going.

The doors of the elevator opened, and I noticed it was an open room, divided up into sub rooms with permanent partitions. Korse led me to one of the sub rooms, and it had a table, chair, bed, toilet, and sink inside it. The bed had a pillow and blanket, but that was it. Nothing else in the décor department. On the table a bowl of mush was waiting, a spoon laid next to it. I looked at Korse who smiled at me with his sickly evil grin. “Eat,” he said calmly.

I walked over to the table slowly and sat down gingerly, picking up the spoon and carefully getting a mouthful of the mush. I noticed it looked like oatmeal like my mom used to make, and I wearily put the spoon in my mouth. It was oatmeal. I began to shovel more into my mouth, not realizing how hungry I was. Korse smiled again, and turned to walk off, leaving with one last comment: “Eat up. We will need to use you later.”

I froze as the Dracs left my sub-room. I knew what that meant. It meant somebody was getting lucky tonight, and it involved me being not so lucky. I pushed the bowl away, resting my head on the table, wanting nothing more than to just die right here.

Party Poison
Stars.

I looked at the night sky, counting them.

“Violet doesn’t matter,” I said aloud. “She was just a chapter in my life that has ended.” The Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt twinkled in agreement with me. They knew it too.

I felt the thump of somebody walking over to me, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Ray was staring at my face, saying nothing.

“What?” I asked. “Come to tell me something?” I didn’t mean to sound angry, it just sounded that way.

“Are we still going to attack BLI Friday?” Ray said, and it all came back to me. The plan. I sat up too quickly, making my head spin.

I stood up, slower than I had sat up, and looked at Ray’s face. It looked sad yet hopeful. I sighed, and nodded. “We need something to do, don’t we?”

Ray nodded back at me. “I’ll get the guys together. We need to discuss this.” And with that, Ray walked off.

I raised my eyes to the stars again, seeing a star I didn’t before I got up. I shone brighter than the rest, twinkling like mad, and I blinked back tears. I couldn’t help but think it was Violet, angry at me in the heavens.

I walked over to Violet’s tree/current hideout, seeing the guys moving and talking inside. I walked in, ducking under the entrance, and the place got quiet. “Okay, so how are we going to do this?” I asked, sitting on the nearest crate, looking at Bob, Ray, Mikey, and Frank. “The convention’s Friday, and it’s Tuesday night, D-Day not four days away.”

Mikey sighed, seeming still a little peeved at my snap earlier. “We could radio everybody, since it seems like riding around isn’t an option. We can still meet at the Black, but this time we meet Thursday morning, so we can prepare ourselves better.” The guys nodded in agreement.

“But what about the people that don’t have radios but are kick-ass fighters?” I asked, thinking about how nice it would be to drive around the Zones, gathering people and their ammunition. “I’ll drive.”

“Ehh…” Bob said. “You’re not exactly in the best of shape right now, P, and I’m afraid you might do something.” The guys murmured in agreement. I heard from somebody “--- might drown in drinks---“

“Guys, I can do this. If it’s Violet you think I’m worrying about, I’m not. She’s gone, and I’m okay. I promise,” I said, standing and talking with my hands. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll take one of you guys along.”

Frank spoke up, being silent the whole time. “I’ll go with you,” he said quietly, and everybody’s head turned towards Frank, frowning at the ground.

I smiled. “That would be awesome Ghoul. Make sure you have your things packed, ready for Thursday. We won’t be coming back here,” I said, looking at the rest of the guys. “We will see each other again Thursday. Best of luck to you guys. Radio us if you need anything.” And with that, Frank and I left to the night outside.

“Hey, um Party?” Frank asked, looking up at me as we walked from Vi's tree.

“Hmm?” I noised in response.

“Where exactly are we going to go?”

I stopped in my tracks. Shit, I hadn’t thought of anywhere. “We’ll go to the outskirts of all the Zones, driving around, looking for anybody that might be out of range,” I said, making it up as I went. I knew what I would be doing.

“Mm’kay,” Frank said, and climbed in the Death Machine, shotgun, me in the driver’s seat.

I turned the car on and revved its engine. It sounded fine to me. I let the brake go, and we rolled the way Violet left. Frank didn’t notice, though. He was too busy staring at his hands.
After twenty minutes, I began to see something on the horizon. I slowly pressed the gas, trying not to disturb the now sleeping Frank. We got closer, and I pressed the gas again, more force applied this time. When I was fifty feet away from the thing I knew what it was. Why the hell is this here? I thought, angry at Violet, but hoping she was still alive there. I pulled up next to the truck, and it was empty from what I saw. I looked at Frank, his mouth open slightly, head against the door. I pulled his mask over his eyes and climbed out of the Death Machine.

I checked the ground when I got out. There was no wind today, and if Violet had done anything, I would be able to notice. Footsteps littered the ground, so many footsteps around the middle of the road. I looked to the south, looking for any signs of life or death, and I saw nothing. I sighed, and pulled a flare out from my ray gun’s holster pocket. I broke the flare, hoping Frank wouldn't wake up, and when I looked back at the Death Machine, he was still out cold. I bet I could slap him right now and he wouldn’t wake up. I walked over to the south a little ways, but saw no footsteps, no blood, no knives. No tell-tale signs of anything out here. I walked back to the Death Machine and the truck and checked the ground again. I saw tire marks and froze. No, I thought, Not her. I looked at the footprints again, inspecting them, and they all had heel and toe prints. I frowned. Nobody wore boots but Dracs.

I put two and two together and got four. “Shit!” I muttered, not to wake up Frank. Korse had her. Nothing could be worse than this.

Violet Rage
Weak.

I laid on my bed, corpse-still, preparing for what was about to happen.

What did I normally do to prepare for Tim? I asked myself. [It sucks that I can’t remember, seeing as that I was raped so long I could tell when I was going to get it and when I wasn’t…/]

The rest of the room was silent, but I know not to suspect that there wasn’t other people in there. I’ve seen Killjoys hide by the tens in dark areas of a dark room, not making a sound when a Drac came by. Killjoys were masters at silence.

Suddenly I heard footsteps, and I closed my eyes. Here it comes, I thought, and sure enough when I opened my eyes again, a Drac was in them. “Wakey wakey princess,” he jeered, and pulled me out of my bed by my feet. I fell down on the concrete, but stood up as quickly and I could, showing no emotion even though I wanted to go and puke in my midget toilet. The thought of being raped again made me sick. The mere inquire that it would be by somebody at BLI made me want to go crawl in a hole and die.

The Drac pushed me into the hallway, and I walked with my head high. The Drac pushed it down, though, and kicked me in the back if my legs, making me fall forward and him laugh. I felt a bruise coming on, and knew hell was coming.

I was shoved into the elevator, the damn Drac still laughing. I wanted to die right now, but this guy was seriously pissing me off. I took a breath in, waiting for the elevator to stop.
It stopped at the 22 level, as I noticed, and the Drac grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the elevator. We walked for five minutes down a long hallway to a red door that looked like the one that used to be on my childhood home. “Good luck princess,” he sneered, and pushed me inside the door.

I fell but caught myself on my left arm, looking in the room around me. It had warm, pleasant décor, but the windows still looked out over a glum city. I wondered who decorated this, because this clearly wasn’t a person on the pill. I stood back up slowly, rubbing my left arm with my still-broken right.

“Hello, Violet Rage,” Korse’s voice said, and he came out from behind a door. “I’ve been waiting for you.” He took a step closer and saw my emotionless expression. “No feelings yet? At least tell me how the décor looks. I decorated it myself,” Korse said, looking around the room. “It reminds me of the days before the dreaded Killjoys came about.”

I was still silently standing by the door. Korse walked up to me. “Nothing?” he said, and reached out to touch my cheek lightly. I kept silent. “Well, since you are not willing to cooperate with me by at least answering my questions, I might as well get to the fun part.” With that, Korse turned on his heel and walked out through the front door into the hallway. “Tim? She’s all yours.”

I turned my head slowly back to the room where Korse had come out of, and, sure enough, Tim was standing there, a crooked smile on his face. “Come here, baby,” he said, walking towards me, arms open in hug formation. I breathed in sharply as he engulfed me in a stifling hug. “I’ve missed all the fun we’ve had together,” Tim said, dragging me to the room he came out of, me still in his grasp. “Now I’m going to get my fun.”